Detaining Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war on Russia, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in a document published on Tuesday, in the midst of a national debate on the president’s visit to the next BRICS summit.
Putin is invited to the summit of that group of five great emerging powers (South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia) scheduled for August 22-24 in Johannesburg. But the Russian president has been the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) since March for the war crime consisting of the “deportation” of Ukrainian children after the invasion, an accusation that the Russian government rejects.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa should theoretically arrest Putin if he enters its territory. A great diplomatic dilemma for the government, which refuses to condemn Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The debate has taken a judicial turn as the main South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is trying through the courts to force the government to ensure that Putin is arrested and handed over to the ICC if he steps foot in South Africa. In a statement, Ramaphosa has described the party’s request as “irresponsible”.
“Russia has clearly indicated that any arrest of its sitting president would amount to a declaration of war. It would not be consistent with our constitution to risk embroiling the country in a war with Russia,” he wrote.
South Africa seeks to obtain a derogation from the rules of the ICC because Putin’s detention could threaten “the security, peace and order of the State”, Ramaphosa specifies in that text signed in June and classified in principle as confidential, before the Court disseminated it against his will.
In his statement, Ramaphosa revealed that the South African government has already initiated the procedures provided for in article 97 of the Rome Statute – the founding treaty of the court – which allows the ICC to be consulted if a problem is detected in executing one of its orders. Likewise, the South African president stressed that “a final decision has not been made that, indeed, (Putin) will come to South Africa”, stating that there is no “legal cause” for the moment to issue the order requested by the AD. The case will be discussed at a public hearing next Friday.
At the end of May, the South African Foreign Ministry issued an order to guarantee the diplomatic immunity of those attending the summit, which could open the way for the presence of the Russian president. Given the commotion caused, however, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Clayson Monyela, pointed out that “these immunities do not annul any court order that an international court may have issued against any conference attendee.”
South Africa claims to have taken a neutral stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, and has called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict. This position is not only linked to the strategic, political and economic role that Moscow has in some African countries, but also to historical reasons such as Russian support for the anti-colonial and liberation movements of the 20th century, such as the fight against the segregationist regime of the “apartheid”.
Brazil, Russia, India and China created the BRIC group in 2006, joined by South Africa in 2010, adding the letter S to the acronym. This BRICS group seeks to further influence international institutions hitherto dominated by the United States and Europe. This will be the 15th BRICS summit and it will be held in Johannesburg at a convention center.
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